Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-14
MRS. COX'S DEATH.
The Railroad Company held
Criminally Responsible.
THE EMPLOYEES EXONERATED
The Majority of Witnesses Testify
That They Did Not Hear
the Bell Ring.


The deplorable accident of Tuesday af-
ternoon was the subject Of general discus
sion oil day yesterday, and 1t was noticeable
that the travel to East Los Angeles had ma
terially decreased. The ladies especially
were timid, and the conductors on the
street cars state that travel to and from the
depots was much less than it has been
heretofore. Ia some instances, passengers
when nearing the tracks and crossings oi
the railroads, showed evidences of timidity
which were not observed before. Some OF
them even rose to their feet upon the ap
pearance of an engine or train coming in
their direction, no matter how faf away.
1t was ascertained from DR.. Kurtz yester-
day evening that Miss Winsta nley had been
pretty severely injured, and he was not
prepared 40 state that she was not internally
injured He said that there was but little
doubt but her spine had been severely
and Would It bs aSe to nse her
left eye again but there had been no frac-
ture OF the spinal column for there was no
paralysis of the lower extremities.
THE VERDICT.
The inquest was concluded last night and
the Coroner's Jury found that Mrs. Louisa
II. Cox, native OF Canada, 81 years of age,
had come to her death by being crusfeh G
V. X. r. Co.. as In our opinion the said
company did not exercise the necessary
precautions to prevent accidents. we hold
that the said company are criminally re-
Cox, and in our opinion the employees of
said company are exonerated, and we
would most respectfully urge upon our
City Council the necessity OF enforcing
such measures as VIII heIeaiter, pfeciude
Signed Walt Carr, f. Hamm, Robert
Boswell, Simon Maier. A. S. Mcdonald,
George Baker, p. E Gray, VIM. Huston, J;
Bobbenrieth, L. Ewing, +. A. Gardner and
ID Wagner foreman. Approved by b. 4.
Taney, Acting Coroner.
WITNESSES TESTIFY.
The witnesses examined yesterday testi-
A. J. Hall testified that he was standing
about the north end of the depot when the
train came backing slowly down. with no
bell ringing. He supposed 1t would stop be.
fore reaching the crossing. He heard
startled cry, and looking toward the train
he saw the horse and the hand of the driver
apply the whip. Then he heard the crack
OF the carriage. Hepsssed to the rear OF the
train and saw the msngled form OF woman
the depot after some water He first saw
the lady who was not killed, and later, the
body of the woman who was killed. Ine
custom of the train was to stop. before reach
ing the middle of the road. There was no
one signalling. Heard no bell ringing. Saw
no one on the back part OF the train. Some
one sung out "look out" but he did not
think it was anyone connected with the
road.
Mart Johnson was standing at the last bus
when the accident occurred. lie notlceo
the train backing up at a pretty lively gait
and was goiug to jump ON the hrst platform
when he heard a lady scream. A man was
standing at the side door of the baggage
car waving his hands. When he heard the
scream he turned aud saw the horse Just
going over the track, and the buggy
reached the track just as the end OF Inc
baggage Car came to the same spot Ihe
and was then shove thirty-five feet. wit
ness heard no bell and saw no one on the
back OF the train.
Thos Elsten was waiting at the depot to
CRY out and he turned his head and saw
the rear part of the buggy, which was going
to Hast Los Angeles. He ran toward the
street and saw the buggy sliding on the
track, and he helped to tske the .,a ladies out
one on the end of the train and noticed no
signal man.
j. NJ. Methvin was at the depot when the
accident happened. He saw the train BACK
horse had stopped when he first got on the
railroad and the driver shook the lines and
the horse jumped across, and the ears
caught the buggy and pushed 1t about talrty
feet Before thetrain struck the bnggy there
was brake eman who came up beside wit
ness and signaled the train to stop at its
usual stopping place. Witness saw him
jump up on the steps of the carand pull the
bell cord with both hands. The engineer
50 kl,n ov,S NJ tho trot
station ON the locomotive: He stopped as
soon as he could reverse the engine. Wit
ness heard no bell. He had signalled Mr
Cox to stop, but he thought he was not seen.
He was there to keep the street open. and
there was no one that he knew OF at the
bridge to warn people.
B. g. Holmes testified that he was at the
train with his hack. and saw the horse and
buggy with the people in 1t drive up to the
crossing. The train was backing down at
the same time, and it caught the carriage on
the track aud overturned it. There was no
one on the back of the trair. He heard no
bell. The train came SO rapidly ana silently
that If a person were standing back towards
was no trainman in sight There is never
any one there to signal the train, which
generally stops before 1t gets to the road.
This time 1t came down more rapidly than
was the custom. The cars could not have
teen seen by any person driving on account
of the depot hiding the view.
d. M, True testified that he was standing
on the east side of the track, about two car
lengths from the end of the bridge. The
train backed down slowly at the rate of two
or three miles an hour. Just as the end of
it reached the bridge he saw horse NOV
ing on half trot. The car struck the car
riage about the sane time he saw the lines
being raised. The car then crushed the
buggy and the occupants, and moved them
about twenty-five feet. AS the train struck
the vehicle he turned to look towards the
engine to see If he could see the engineer.
and as he came in sight witness motioned
the train. Did not hear bell. The en-
gineer could not see asignal. The accident
could not have been avoided unless the
brakeman was where he could give signal.
THE TRAINMEN SWORN.
w A. Baldwin, engineer of the train,
testified that he was in charge of the train
| which stood on the side track about 40
| line. In order to do so he had to back past
the depot to get out of the switch. Before
| he got out on the main line he got signal
| te top from the bell and from the fireman.
He applied brakes and reversed the engine
as quick as he could. He was looking back
ali the time. The yardman ordered him to
back down as Is customary. The length OF
the train made is obligatory for him to
switch. Did not see any buggy OF, person
approach the train. There Is usually some
one on the back end of the train. The trair
ran about fifteen feet after he received the
signal. The train was running abouttwo o.
three miles an hour. The bell of the engin,
was ringing all the time they were moving
back. Did not know at the time whether
the last car had passed the depot or not.
Thomas Carter, the fireman. testified tha
he was on the engine, and that the enginee
got the signal to back out of the switch OIL
to the main track. He obeyed the signal
When they were about half way out OF th
stop. He told the engineer, and h. stoppe,
as quick as possible. There was also
signal bell about the same time. He ran
the bell on the engine as soon as she startet
Iup, The brakeman was standing in tn
baggage.car door, and he could see plainly
That is his station on the train. 1t is no
1 - xuft \